Simple and efficient management, at scale – the enhanced vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) will deliver an improved user experience made possible through more efficient management capabilities and significant performance improvements, delivering considerable time and cost savings

Comprehensive built-in security – vSphere customers can deploy VMware AppDefense to further secure applications running in the data centre or cloud. AppDefense understands what applications are intended to do, monitors against that intended state and automates responses if anyone or anything attempts to manipulate them

Seamless hybrid cloud experience – the new vCenter Hybrid Linked Mode will enable unified visibility and management across different versions of vSphere running on-premises and in public clouds (such as VMware Cloud on AWS and IBM Cloud). This will allow customers to maintain their current version of vSphere on-premises while enjoying the benefits of new capabilities in vSphere-based public clouds

Some of the other new features in vSphere 6.7 are:

ESXi Single Reboot and vSphere Quick Boot – aimed at significantly reducing patch and upgrade times by halving the number of reboots required to one, while also skipping hardware initialisation steps to gain further re-start efficiencies

vSphere Persistent Memory – this supports the next generation of storage devices that use persistent DRAM memory, known as non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM) devices

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 Support and Virtual TPM 2.0 – this combination will significantly enhance protection and integrity for both the hypervisor and the guest operating system

Upgrading to vSphere 6.7 will obviously be a key consideration in an organisation’s vSphere lifecycle plan. This will be particularly relevant for vSphere 5.5 users, where the end of general support is scheduled for the 19th of September 2018. However, it’s important to note that vSphere 5.5 does not have a direct upgrade path to vSphere 6.7. If you are currently running vSphere 5.5, you must first upgrade to either vSphere 6.0 or vSphere 6.5 before subsequently upgrading to vSphere 6.7.

Meanwhile the new vSAN 6.7 release reduces time-to-expertise through the use of a new intuitive interface, whilst accelerating decision-making via advanced monitoring and analytics.

The announcement also includes vSAN ReadyCare which is intended to improve the support experience for HCI environments. VMware will help customers maintain performance by avoiding or quickly resolving issues and minimising downtime through a combination of proactive telemetry capabilities from vSAN Support Insight advanced analytics, and increased investment in suitably trained support staff.

In terms of timescales, vSphere 6.7 and vSAN 6.7 are both expected to be available by the 4th of May 2018.

Take part in the VMware vSphere v6.7 training course, Friday 29th June 2018.